Chicago Dancing Festival announces 2014 lineup

Laura MolzahnSpecial to the Tribune

The Chicago Dancing Festival, the annual, free summer showcase of dance, announced on Monday the lineup for its eighth season, Aug. 20-23.

MacArthur grant-winning choreographer Kyle Abraham has been commissioned to set a new piece on Hubbard Street Dance Chicago for the festival. His dark “Radio Show,” performed here in February, and lighthearted “Another Night,” which Ailey danced in 2012, pose the question which mood HSDC will elicit. Though all events are free, “tickets” can be hard to snag. And though the Abraham work will live on in the HSDC repertoire, its world premiere is one night only at the Harris, Aug. 20. The good news? That opening-night show will be simulcast on the Pritzker Pavilion’s giant video screen.

In fact two of the three programs — sadly, there are only three — can be seen at the Pritzker, via live-feed video or on stage, without making a reservation. The second, as usual, is the Saturday festival finale.

CDF debut performances include Stars of American Ballet, featuring NYCB and ABT dancers, Aug. 20 only. New York-based Pam Tanowitz Dance performs Aug. 22 only, and hip-hop company Rennie Harris Puremovement breaks out its moves on the Aug. 23 program, packed with ballet. Reservations — required for the Harris Theatre and the Museum of Contemporary Art — can be made in early July, date and details to be determined, as are additional events and artists. Here are the lineups:

7 p.m. Aug. 20 at the Harris Theatre, with Pritzker simulcast: HSDC in Abraham’s premiere, the Juilliard School in Eliot Feld’s “The Jig Is Up,” Stars of American Ballet in Jerome Robbins’ “Fancy Free” and the Martha Graham Dance Company in “Errand.”

6 p.m. and 8 p.m. Aug. 22 at the MCA: Adam Barruch Dance in “Belladonna,” the Joffrey Ballet in an excerpt from Yuri Possokhov’s “Bells,” Pam Tanowitz Dance in “Passagen,” and the Graham company, “Errand.”